How To Use Instagram To Build Your Personal Brand

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Did you know that Instagram can be used for more than uploading pictures of your dog or that vacation you went to last summer? Social media marketing has advanced to the point that Instagram can be used as a personal branding tool. Think about Instagram as the modern day business card! If you leverage your Instagram account right, you can use it to make money and increase your business outreach. Read on to learn how to use instagram to build your personal brand. 

Profile Picture

The first element you want to consider when using your Instagram account to build a personal brand is your profile picture. Is your profile picture a picture of your pet or your favorite TV show? If so, change it ASAP! You should want to portray yourself or your company in the most professional and straightforward way as possible. This means choosing a profile picture of yourself or of the logo of your business.

Think about the quality of your profile picture, as well. No one wants to click on a profile with a blurry picture. Make sure your profile is high quality! If your profile picture is of yourself, go get your headshots taken if need be (Hey! It’s your excuse to be a model for the day!). 

Username

You’ll want to make sure your username on Instagram is consistent across other social media platforms, as well. Think about it. You’re building a personal brand! You want people to be able to easily access your profiles. That, and consistency is a sign of professionalism. If you brand yourself as one name on your Instagram and another on your Facebook, your audience will be confused. 

You’ll also want to make sure your username is easy to understand. Keep it clean and as simple as possible! Though you may want to make your brand or business stand out with your username, it will be easier for your target audience to remember if it’s simple. This means no underscores and no numbers! We understand that finding a good username can be hard these days as a lot of the better usernames have been snatched up. However, if you want to claim a username from an abandoned account, we know someone who can help you (hint: it starts with an “O” and ends with a “tter PR!” ) 

Biography

Your Instagram bio should tell people exactly what you’re all about. You don’t want to leave any visitors guessing what kind of value you bring to the table. If people have to guess what it is you do, they’re not going to want to follow you. You need a clear, concise description that captures the attention of your target audience as soon as they view your profile. Whatever it is you do, state it plainly. 

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Posts

The first few posts on your Instagram feed are crucial when it comes to establishing your brand! First off, you’re going to want to make sure that all of your content is consistent. If one day you’re posting dinner recipes and the next day you’re posting marketing content, people are going to get confused. Decide what kind of value you want to bring through your Instagram feed and stick to that. People will want to follow you if they know what to expect when you post!

As well as consistency, you’ll need originality to use Instagram to build your personal brand. Don’t just repost quotes or pictures you found on the internet! If your audience can go somewhere else to get the exact content you’re posting, why would they ever follow you? Make sure that your posts are original and relevant to your niche or market! 

Engagement 

Once people are following your Instagram account, they’ll want to see that you have engagement. Imagine finding an account with one million followers, but they only have around 100 likes per post and maybe 50 comments. Wouldn’t you think something is off? Maybe people don’t really care what this account has to say. Or, wrose, they might have bought their followers and their lack of engagement completely gives it away! Bottom line is, if you don’t have good engagement, it looks fishy. Ask questions in your captions and ask for your followers to like your content! Posting without wanting feedback from your followers will lead to a lack of engagement which looks bad for your brand! 

Offer Additional Value 

Once you have a decent follower count with good engagement, it’s time to give your followers a reason to stay! This is where freebies and exclusive content comes into play. Think of something special you can give your followers as a way to thank them for following you. Whether that be through an Instagram live with another thought leader in your industry or a free PDF your followers can download, think of something you can do to give back. 

In Conclusion

Besides being a fun way to waste time, Instagram is a great tool to build your personal brand. Instagram is your social media business card. It’s one of the first social medias people will go to when trying to find out more about your business or brand. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that your Instagram is clean, trustworthy and consistent.

Tags: how to use instagram to build your personal brand, instagram, instagram marketing, personal branding, Social Media
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Deven McCray

Deven McCray

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